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Pompeii and Herculaneum (Notes)
Below is a complete transcript of Mr. Graham's Pompeii and Herculaneum Powerpoint. It is an enhancement powerpoint sometimes taught after the Rome unit. Complete Transcript Eruption of Vesuvius 79 AD/CE- Pyroclastic flows: * Results of some volcanic eruptions * Fast-moving fluidized bodies of hot gas, ash and rock (collectively known as tephra) * Can travel away from the vent at up to 150 KM/h * Gas usually at temperature of 100-800 degrees celsius Mount Vesuvius: * 6 miles East of Naples on Mainland * Tendency towards explosive eruptions * Regarded by the Greeks and Romans as sacred to the hero/ demigod Hercules/ Heracles * Herculaneum, built at its base, named after him * Active volcano Eruptions: * Vesuvius erupted repeatedly * 79, in 472, 512, in 1631, six times in the 18th century, eight times in the 19th century and in 1906, 1929, and 1944. * No eruption since 1944 * The eruptions vary greatly in severity but are characterized by explosive outbursts of the kind dubbed Plinian * Some eruptions so large all southern Europe blanketed by ash * In 4772 and 1631, Vesuvian ashes fell on Constantinople (Istanbul), over 1,200 KM away * 3 million people near Vesuvius Foreshocks: * Powerful earthquake 17 years before on 5 February 62. * Caused widespread destruction around bay of Naples, particularly to Pompeii * Early August of 79, springs and wells dried up * Small earthquakes 20 August, 79 * More frequent over the next four days Pompeii: * Port city on Bay of Naples * Important port for goods brought by sea and carried North to Rome of South along Appian Way * Rediscovery in 1748 * Plaster casts Herculaneum: * Herculaneum was a smaller town with a weather population than Pompeii * The pyroclastic flow instantly killed all who had met escaped * Bodies of those killed at Herculaneum not preserved in cast * Hundreds of skeletons discovered, most on what was the ancient beach, at the time of its destruction * The first major discovery of 1st century AD, Roman skeletal materials took place in Herculaneum * Romans generally practiced cremation into the 3rd century, very little skeletal material remains for study * Excavation during the 1990s in the port area turned up the skeletons of more than 200 individuals of varied age, sex, class * The skeletons were preserved on the seafront, where people had fled in an attempt to escape Eruption: * Afternoon of August 24, a catastrophic eruption of the volcano * Devastated the region, burying Pompeii and other settlements * By coincidence the date was the vulcanalia, the festival of the Roman god of fire * Eruption column, new estimated more than 32 KM (20 miles) tall * Cloud collapsed down flanks of the mountain and covered everything around it, including the surrounding of the sea * A pyroclastic flow- a cloud of superheated gas, ash, and rock erupts from a volcano * Several Earth tremors at time of eruption and were followed by a very violent earthquake * Ash was falling in thick sheets * Sun blocked out * Sea was sucked away and forced back (now called a tsunami) Pliny the Elder: * In command of the Roman fleet at Misenum, on the far side of the bay * Took several ships to investigate * Also took on a rescue mission for those at the foot of the volcano * Friend send message to rescue her * Thick showers of hot cinders, lumps of pumice, and pieces of rock, altered shoreline and water depths, blocked approach to shore and prevented landing there * Prevailing southerly wing also stopped landing * Continued south to Stabiae (about 45 KM from Pompeii), landed and look shelter * Saw flames on mountain- decided to evacuate despite wind against them because of earthquakes threatening to collapse buildings * To beach with pillows tied on head (protect from rockfall) * So much ash could barely see and wrecked torches and lanterns * Made it to beach but water to violently disturbed to escape by sea * Pliny the Elder collapsed and died- poisonous, probably heart attack or stroke * 35% of victims of Pompeii; found ash fall deposit * Majority inside buildings- probably killed by root collapses * Smaller number found outside buildings probably killed by falling roof slates or by larger rocks thrown by volcano * 62% found at Pompeii were in the pyroclastic surge deposits, and probably killed by combination of suffocation through ash inhalation and blast and debris thrown * Herculaneum, closer to the crater, saved from tephra falls by wind direction * Herculaneum buried under 75 ft of material deposited by pyroclastic surges Category:History Notes Category:7th Grade Category:History